


Little Sister

by bitchin_beskar



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Best big brothers ever, Cuddling & Snuggling, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Found Family, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Nicky and Joe are sooo protective of Nile, Nicky and Joe are the protective big brothers, Nightmares, Nile is struggling with her immortality, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, She's the baby of the family, but even badasses break down when faced with a never-ending lifetime, not smut, she's such a badass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25677970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchin_beskar/pseuds/bitchin_beskar
Summary: Having nightmares for the rest of eternity doesn't sound very appealing. Thankfully, Nile has her two big brothers who are there to comfort her whenever the nightmares get to be too much.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova & Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 25
Kudos: 541





	Little Sister

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I saw The Old Guard less than a week ago, and I immediately had so many ideas to write, so here is the first one!
> 
> Nile is honestly such a badass, and I love her. But I don't think there's any way that Nile didn't have a breakdown after the movie. Coming down from that big of an adrenaline high? It was bound to be rough. And it is my personal headcanon that Joe and Nicky took one look at Nile and decided that "oh hey, look at that, we have a baby sister now, cool," and no one can tell me otherwise. 
> 
> There is NO sexual or romantic relationship between either Nile and Nicky or Nile and Joe. Joe and Nicky are immortal gay warrior husbands forever (don't @me) and Nile is their adopted little sister. All cuddling and sleeping is purely platonic and comfort in this story.

She wakes with a scream on her lips.

It’s not the first time Nile has dreamt of Quynh, of drowning, of iron cages deep beneath the waves. It’s not the first time, and if Booker is anything to go by, it’s far from the last. The others told her that the dreams stop when they meet, but how is she supposed to meet someone who’s been trapped at the bottom of the ocean for half an eternity? 

She’s crying, tears running down her cheeks, but all she can think about is how Quynh can’t even cry, she lives and dies and lives again too quickly for tears to ever form in her eyes. Her hand is at her throat, and all Nile can do is remember how it felt, choking on her own blood the first time she died. It still gives her nightmares, even now that she’s died and been reborn numerous times since then, she can’t even  _ imagine _ choking like that for centuries upon centuries. 

Her whole body is shaking, vibrating with a need to  _ get out _ , but she can’t, because the need isn’t her own, and the one who needs to  _ get out _ is  _ trapped _ and Nile  _ can’t help her _ , oh god what is she supposed to  _ do _ –

The door opens, but it only barely registers, like the sound of a bird outside or a car on the road, and she dismisses it as unimportant, not when her entire world is falling apart and she’s breathing but Quynh’s  _ not _ –

Nile is actually, genuinely, startled when the mattress in front of her and next to her dips, and she’s suddenly surrounded by two people that are radiating concern and worry so much that she can practically  _ see  _ it. Her vision is blurry from her tears, but she can tell that it’s Joe in front of her, which means that Nicky is the one next to her, rubbing soothing circles between her shoulder blades. It’s only when Joe gently grabs one of her hands and places it against his slow and steady heartbeat that she realizes how fast her pants of breath are coming.

“That’s it, Nile, breathe with Joe.” Nicky’s voice is in her ear, low and calm, just like Joe’s heartbeat, and her thoughts aren’t racing quite as fast as they were before. “Just like that  _ sorellina _ , breathe.” 

Joe is looking at her so earnestly, with such softness in his gaze that Nile wants to cry even more. Nicky’s forehead is pressed against her temple, and she reaches out blindly for him with the hand not already occupied by Joe.

Nicky grips her hand tightly, intertwining their fingers, grounding her. Joe scoots forward until he’s the only thing that’s in her field of vision, his other hand wiping away the tears from her cheeks. They must sit like that for hours, although what are hours to immortals? Nile has so many hours left she doubts she could count them all, so she lets herself be selfish for just a little while, just a blip in her suddenly expanded lifetime.

Nicky finally speaks, although his voice is no less calming or soothing than it was when he first sat down with her. 

“Do you want to tell us about it?” 

Nile loves him for asking, but at this point, she’s not sure that telling the story  _ again _ , reliving the repeated drownings  _ again _ would do any good. She shakes her head, but now she’s thinking about it again, and she’s starting to panic again, and–

Nicky’s shushing her with soft, quiet noises, and Joe’s humming a melody she’s never heard, but it's beautiful and calm, and it helps ground her in the here and the now. Nicky’s pulling her back, encouraging her to lay down on the bed, tucking her underneath his arm so that her head’s resting on his chest, and she can feel his heartbeat, steady, pulsing,  _ alive. _ Joe settles in next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing her back against his chest, like she’s seen him do with Nicky so many times before. 

She felt guilty, the first couple of times they did this, feeling like she was breaking some kind of sacred bond between the two, but Joe had put a stop to those thoughts quickly.

“ _ Habibti _ ,” he’d muttered, pressing a kiss against her temple. “I have slept beside Nicky for hundreds of lifetimes, and I will do so for hundreds more. If we can bring you enough comfort to allow you to sleep through the night, it is no hardship at all. You are family now, and that means Nicky and I will protect you while you sleep for the next hundred years or more, if you wish it.”

She’d hugged both men so hard that night, she was afraid she might have cracked some ribs, but if she had, neither one showed it. Every night, she would valiantly try to sleep on her own, and every night, she woke from nightmares. Joe and Nicky were always there in seconds, rushing in and taking her into their arms, soothing her with words in Italian and Arabic that she didn’t understand, but made her feel safe nonetheless. 

They’d become her protectors, in ways she hadn’t even known she’d need. When Andy had first told her of her immortality, Nile had foolishly thought that would mean that she’d never have to feel afraid again. And then the mess with Booker and Copley and Merrick had happened, and the nightmares of Quynh had happened, and Nile realized she had a hell of a lot of worse things to be afraid of now. But every night she slept sandwiched between Joe and Nicky was a night a little bit more of that fear chipped away. 

“Quiet your mind,  _ habibti _ ,” Joe murmurs, face buried in her shoulder, protecting her neck. “I can  _ hear _ you thinking.” 

One of Nicky’s hands is buried in Joe’s hair, but the other is running soothingly up and down Nile’s arm, and she smiles sleepily. “I didn’t know mind reading was one of your superpowers, Joe.”

Nicky chuckled quietly, his hand settling on her forearm, holding her to his chest. “It’s called intuition, and he’s right. You’re tired,  _ sorellina _ , try to quiet your mind. You need your sleep.”

Nile just mumbles, basking in the warmth and comfort that they’re providing her with. She’s on the verge of falling asleep, but there’s one question that just won’t let her rest. “Joe? Nicky?”

She can  _ feel _ the sighs of both men, and the fond exasperation that filters through when Nicky answers. “What is it, Nile?”

“What does  _ habibti _ mean? And  _ sorellina _ ? You haven’t taught me those words yet,” she mumbles, eyes closed. 

She can feel Joe’s grin, and she knows Nicky is grinning too. “ _ Habibti _ means my love, in Arabic,” Nicky starts, and Joe finishes his sentence. “And  _ sorellina  _ means little sister, in Italian.” 

Nile sighs, her whole body relaxing now that her one burning question has been answered. “I guess you guys really do like me, huh?” She mutters, teetering on the precipice of unconsciousness. 

“Of course we do, Nile,” Nicky says, squeezing her arm at the same time Joe squeezes her waist. “We love you, little sister. Don’t you ever forget it.”


End file.
